I was very grateful I rewatched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them before I went to see The Crimes of Grindelwald, because this second movie strongly builds and relies on the viewer's memory of the original. I was surprised to see the two movies had the same director in David Yates, as this one felt very different.
Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, and Alison Sudol all were the same quartet we love, but they seemed to have less screentime than before, to make way for Johnny Depp's Grindelwald stealing center spotlight. Newcomers Zoë Kravitz and Claudia Kim fit perfectly into the universe, and Jude Law made the perfect younger Dumbledore.
I enjoyed the ways in which the movie revisited the wonder of watching Newt tame and tend to the animals, introducing new creatures for us to admire through the masterful CGI. Dan Fogler, as Jacob Kowalski, is still at the top of his physical comedy game, and is always a joy to watch. I appreciated how his character was more sure of his place in the magical community. We got more of a glimpse into what goes on in Queenie's mind, and were introduced to some sadder moments through her insecurities.
The Crimes of Grindelwald also attempted to connect to the original Harry Potter movies through some nice surprise characters and Easter eggs, which I won't spoil for you.
The central plot is much simpler compared with the first movie, and easier to follow. Unfortunately, it was also not near as tightly scripted or edited, with a bit too much exposition that tanked the pacing at times. As well, there were some scenes that didn't quite know where to end, and dialogue that liked to meander a bit.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was a much more self-contained story, easy to enjoy on its own. Conversely, The Crimes of Grindelwald is very much a bridge film to set up more plot threads to come to fruition in future installments. I personally didn't quite like it as much as the first in the series, but it is still absolutely worth seeing, and I will definitely be rewatching it - both in preparation for the third movie, and whenever I go back through the series on repeat viewings for fun.
